The actress, Jodie Fisher, accused Hurd of sexual harassment, though HP's board found no evidence to support the claim and Hurd has settled the case privately. In investigating Fisher's allegations, though, the board found Hurd authorized improper payment to Fisher and listed other participants on expense reports when he'd been dining with her.

Presumably supping with the star of such Cinemax fare as Intimate Obsession would have looked bad. Both Hurd and Fisher say it wasn't an affair. Whatever it was, it was conduct unbecoming for a CEO, who's supposed to set the tone for company ethics.

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Hurd was supposed to bring stability to HP. He took over for Carly Fiorina, who made a flashy deal for Houston-based Compaq but couldn't deliver results. Then, as Hurd was coming in, scandal erupted over HP's use of detectives who used shady tactics in collecting phone records of board members and reporters.

Focus on operations

Hurd returned HP's focus to operations and generated big returns, largely through cost cutting. During his tenure, HP shed thousands of jobs, presumably many of them in Houston, although the company steadfastly refuses to say how many people it still employs here.

He oversaw the purchase of Electronic Data Systems, 3Com and Palm, but those deals hadn't yet shown the results he predicted. In other words, Hurd proved himself as a cost cutter, but not as an engineer of growth.

But Hurd generated fabulous returns for investors. HP's shares quadrupled during his tenure. (They've fallen 9 percent since he resigned.) In world obsessed with short-term results, that's all that matters to many investors or, for that matter, executives.

Ellison is the most overpaid executive of the decade, having raked in almost $2 billion, mostly from stock options. In a gesture of humility, he accepts a $1-a-year salary.

Fresh from his cameo in Iron Man 2, Ellison naturally subscribes to the view of the CEO as a rock star. By invoking Jobs — who received a mere $749 million in the last decade and draws a $1 salary - Ellison points to another executive who investors believe can do no wrong.

Hurd, who came to Silicon Valley five years ago from Ohio, may have begun to believe in his own indispensable brilliance.

HP's board, on the other hand, embraced a theory that's undoubtedly alien to Ellison and his C-suite cronies: The rules matter.

Would a midlevel sales executive, found to have lied on expense reports, been given a pass at HP? Is the sales executive's contribution - bringing in revenue - less significant than Hurd's - cutting costs? CEOs have many responsibilities, but one of them is setting the tone for employee conduct.

Lest we go too far in praising HP's board, it's still paying Hurd a severance package of $28 million, which certainly muddles any message it was trying to send to him or HP employees.

Blame a flunky

As CEO, Hurd dined with a woman, not his wife, whose "reality" includes vying for a man with other lovelorn women before a TV audience. He then stuck his company with the tab and lied about it. His only defense: A flunky prepared his expenses.

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As HP's board would no doubt tell him, it's hard to find good help these days.